Databases are almost ubiquitous in American businesses today. From customer history information to inventory control, most businesses must utilize some form of database to keep track of essential details and analyze firm performance over time. Even schools are heavy database users, with everything from attendance and grades to cafeteria records being kept in some sort of data management system.

What many of these systems have in common is complex programming languages such as SQL; the use of these is beyond the range of ordinary users. To program a database to perform complex, and sometimes even routine, tasks requires mastery of an interface that is often far from intuitive. This by itself means that business enterprises are better off hiring an IT consulting company to provide a managed program for them. By regularly visiting a work site, IT staff can be apprised of the new needs an enterprise may have with regards to their database. IT specialists can also provide the essential function of vision for an enterprise, helping management to better understand the different ways in which database information can be filtered and displayed in order to indicate the successes and challenge areas in the current market.

Perhaps the most important task of all, however, is for IT database specialists to keep the database in working order. This requires regular maintenance including making backups, compressing the database to save space, and asking the database program to scan itself for anomalous information. These matters should become routine in an enterprise, but regular staff may neglect them. A managed program IT consultant will make them a top priority.